Disappearing
by McAbbyAddict
Summary: When members of Gibbs' team start going missing, it is up to the rest of the team to figure out why- before they lose another one of their own
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Ok, I know I said I wasn't going to post this yet, but welcome to my newest story. This is a team fic and it may get a little graphic. Hopefully you enjoy it :) F.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, etc.**

* * *

><p>The quiet was eerie.<p>

McGee followed in the wake of his excited dog, watching his step on the icy sidewalk. The streets had been cleared, but snow lay in drifts on the sides of the road, covering the sidewalk in places. It was nearing midnight; normally he didn't walk Jethro so late, but their latest case had finally wrapped up around 10.30pm. He could see his breath in white plumes, and was glad when he finally reached the shelter of his building.

He was tired and cold; he just wanted to get into his apartment, dry off his dog, and go to bed. Tomorrow was Saturday, and they didn't have the weekend duty so he could sleep in an extra couple of hours before his lunch date with Abby.

Jethro was already waiting for him when he got to the corridor that led to his apartment. He smiled wearily. The big German Shepherd probably wanted dinner and his bed as well. Unlocking the door to his apartment, he only had time to hear Jethro's warning bark before something solid collided with the back of his head. The world went dark.

...

Gibbs was enjoying a lazy Saturday, working on his boat, when his cell phone rang. He picked it up from where it lay in easy reach on top of his steamer box and glanced at the caller ID. His eyebrows rose in surprise when he saw it was Abby. She rarely called him when they weren't working. He flipped the phone open.

"Yeah. Gibbs."

"Gibbs, Gibbs. Something bad's happened to Timmy, he was late to lunch so I went to his apartment and-"The words ran together, and it was clear that Abby was agitated. "Slow down, Abs. What happened?"

"Timmy's missing, Gibbs."

"Be there soon, Abs."

He snapped the phone closed and went back upstairs, taking the steps three at a time. From what Abby had said, he was missing an agent.

...

He took the time to call Tony and Ziva on his trip across town to McGee's apartment, knowing that they would drop what they were doing and head in for this. When he got there, he was met by the sight of Abby pacing up and down outside McGee's door, followed by his dog. She stopped when she spotted him and ran towards him. "Gibbs. Thank god you're here." She was white faced and trembling. He hugged her briefly, then released her. "What happened?" In his peripheral vision, he could see Tony and Ziva walking towards them. "We were supposed to have lunch, and Tim was late, which is weird, Timmy's never late. I tried calling him on his cell and his house phone and he wasn't answering, so I came over here. When he didn't answer the door, I used my key..." She trailed off and swallowed hard. "There's a note..."

Gibbs moved past her and swung the door open. The apartment looked the same as it always did; there was no sign of a struggle. Propped up in a prominent position was the note. In a dark red ink that looked ominously like blood were the words "One down."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ok, I have some completed chapters still to post, but this is a work in progress everyone. You may have to bear with me. Thank you to everyone that has read, alerted and reviewed.**

**And special thanks goes to Trina109 for her invaluable help beta-reading and helping me get out of plot holes :) F.**

Gibbs turned to Abby. "Did you touch anything, Abs?"

She nodded slowly.

"We're going to need to take your prints." She nodded again; they needed to eliminate her prints from any others found in his apartment.

"Ziva, talk to McGee's neighbours, see if they saw anything. Tony, get a picture of that." He gestured to the note. Once the photo was taken, Gibbs snapped on a pair of latex gloves and gingerly collected the note, studying it closely. His gut told him it was blood. He just hoped it wasn't McGee's.

...

He sat at his desk, puzzling over McGee's disappearance. Tony and Ziva had taken what little evidence they had down to Abby's lab. They needed to figure this out, and fast.

The rest of his team was back in the squad room quicker than he'd anticipated. He guessed that Abby had gone into her hyper focused state, the same way she had when Tony was being framed by her lab nerd, Chip.

"Abby found out anything about that note?"

Tony looked apologetic. "She says its human blood, Boss." He set his pack down at his desk and locked his gun away. "No way of telling whose it is yet."

Gibbs nodded; he'd expected that. He knew that Abby had had the note only a few minutes, but that didn't make it any easier. One of his team was missing, and the note was the only link they had right now.

"Have any of you noticed McGee acting differently at all?" he asked his remaining agents. The younger members of the team sent more time together; plus, when he was around, the team tended to act professionally, at least most of the time.

"He's been kinda quiet lately. Secretive" Tony said.

"Define lately."

"I dunno, two months or so. I figured he was writing another book. Keeps refusing to go out with us, saying he's got other plans."

"I disagree. He looks... Different. Happier." Ziva put in. "He keeps smiling when he thinks no one is looking, and he has not been spending as much time in Abby's lab. I think he has a girlfriend"

"That's ridiculous Ziva, Probie woulda told us."

"After the last time, Tony?"

Gibbs saw Tony wince at the memory. Amanda hadn't exactly been a good choice of girlfriend, not that any of the team blamed him for the lapse in judgement; it would have seemed hypocritical. It was a possibility, and right now they needed every lead they could get. He gestured at the computer sitting on McGee's desk.

"Tony, see if you can get any information off that thing about who McGee's been seeing. Ziva, go over the security tapes we got from McGee's building. I want an ID on everyone entering or leaving that building until Abby got there this afternoon."

"On it, Boss."

Tony moved over to McGee's desk, sitting down and starting to type something. On the other side of the bullpen, Ziva was accessing the footage they'd collected. Gibbs looked down at his cup, realising for the first time that it was empty. He tossed it in the trash and stood up. He needed coffee; it helped him think.

...

He detoured via Abby's lab on the way back to the squad room.

"Whatdya got, Abs?"

She sat on one of the stools in front of the computers, looking a little shell shocked.

"Abby?"

"I got the results back from the blood, Gibbs." She hit a button on the keyboard in front of her. McGee's ID photo flashed up on the screen. "It's definitely Timmy's blood on the note." She turned towards him. "Do you think he's ok?"

He pulled her into a hug, kissing her gently on the forehead. "I hope so, Abs."

"We've got to find him, Gibbs."

"Ah, Boss?" Tony's voice came from behind him. "I can't access most of McGee's files. He's encrypted them." Gibbs gave a mental snort. Of course he had; this was McGee they were talking about after all. "I was kinda hoping Abby would have more luck."

Gibbs looked back at Abby. "I can try, Gibbs, but it depends on what type of encryption he used. He's been playing around with his own encryption algorithms. What am I looking for?"

"Ziva thinks that Probie has a girlfriend" Tony explained. "If we can figure out who she is, she might know something about why McGee was kidnapped."

Gibbs watched Abby's reaction curiously. Her head snapped up and she looked distinctly uncomfortable. "What is it, Abs?"

"I know he has a girlfriend." Her voice came out high pitched and odd. "It's me."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Cold.

His first, muddled thought was that the thermostat had broken; he had to call the super. Then, as his throbbing head made itself known, he vaguely remembered what had happened. He'd been out walking Jethro in the snow; they'd been waiting for him when he got home. They'd hit him with... something. He tried to raise his hand to touch the tender area on the back of his head, and couldn't. Strangely it felt like his hands were connected... to his feet? That wasn't right. He moved again, and this time heard the distinct slither of chain on concrete. Startled, his eyes flew open and he looked around. Dim light was filtering into the room somewhere behind him; he could faintly see that he was lying on his side on a bare concrete floor. He looked over his shoulder, trying to see what was stopping him from moving his hands. As he suspected, his hands were cuffed; a chain ran between the cuffs and what appeared to be old prison-style manacles around his ankles. He rolled, attempting to see the rest of the room he'd been put in, then wished he hadn't. The pain in his head intensified; he bit back a groan. The light was too dim for him to make out much detail; the light was coming through a rectangular slot in the heavy steel door. Feeling shivery and sick, he lay where he was, waiting for his head to clear.

He didn't know how long he'd been there, but as he watched, the light grew brighter and he knew the day was passing. He was supposed to meet Abby for lunch; hopefully she'd check at his apartment when he didn't show. Hopefully, she'd let Gibbs know straight away. Gibbs would find him.

With the extra light coming through the gap, he could see more of the room. He only had time to take in the blank television screen mounted in the corner of the roof before the door swung open, flooding the room with brightness. He blinked furiously to clear his vision before looking up from his position on the floor. Above him loomed a figure in a grey jumpsuit; from their build, McGee assumed they were male. His head was covered in a black hood, and one large hand clutched what appeared to be a length of steel pipe.

"Tell me everything you know... about Leroy Jethro Gibbs."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Ok, this is going to switch perspectives fairly often. Hope you're enjoying it.**

** As always, thanks goes to Trina109 for being my awesome beta :)**

Gibbs looked at Abby for a long moment. He knew that Abby and McGee had had... something... going on before the young agent joined his team, but he'd thought that part of their relationship was long finished.

From behind him he heard Tony's question. "Why didn't he tell us?"

"We didn't tell anyone, Tony. Not just you." Abby replied with a sideways glance at Gibbs; the reason was clear to him, but he ignored the breach of Rule 12 for now. They had more important things to worry about.

"How long, Abs?"

"Two months."

He nodded. Ziva was right; McGee's change in behaviour had been explained by a girlfriend. The fact that it was Abby made their job easier, in a way.

"Have you noticed anything hinky going on with him, Abs?" Gibbs asked. He knew how she reacted to any of the team being in danger; the fact that there was a personal relationship involved this time had to make it harder for her, and he hated pushing her. But they had to know. They needed any information they could get that might lead them to McGee- and to the person that had kidnapped him.

She shook her head.

"Nothing at all? No unusual phone calls or emails?"

"Nothing, Gibbs."

He could see she was telling the truth- Abby was a terrible liar at the best of times, and she was even worse at it when she was under stress. He sighed.

"Do you have anything else for me, Abs?"

"Not yet, Gibbs. The paper used for the note was just ordinary yellow legal paper, available practically everywhere. It probably came from the pad McGee keeps on his desk. I don't have matches for some of the fingerprints you found in his apartment yet. There were 4 different sets of prints; one was Tim's, one was mine, one was Tony's and then there's the ones I haven't got matches for yet."

She turned away from the fingerprint computer, a worried frown on her face. "Gibbs, do...do Tim's family know yet? That he's missing, I mean."

"Not yet, Abs." That was a phone call he was dreading having to make.

...

Back at his desk Gibbs pulled McGee's personnel file. He was chagrined to note that not only did he not know McGee's parents names, but he didn't even know where they lived. He knew the names of Tony, Ziva and Abby's surviving parents, and Ducky's mother was unforgettable. McGee was the most reticent about his personal life, and the only member of his family that he'd ever talked about was his sister, Sarah- but even that was only because the rest of the team had met her when she was suspected of murder.

Finding the information he needed, he picked up his desk phone and dialled. A bright female voice answered at the other end.

"McGee residence."

"Hello, this is Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs-"

"Agent Gibbs. You're Tim's boss. I'm Maureen McGee, Tim's mother."The previously chirpy voice became guarded and the worry came clearly through the phone line. "Has something happened to Tim?"

He took a deep breath; he hated making phone calls like this one. "I don't know how to tell you this, but... Tim is missing."

...

After hanging up from talking to McGee's sister, Sarah, Gibbs sat lost in thought for a long moment. Maureen and Tim's father, Brett, would be flying in late that night; they'd insisted on coming to Washington after they'd heard. Sarah was on her way in to provide her fingerprints for elimination purposes; she was a frequent visitor to McGee's apartment.

He stood and made his way up the stairs to the mezzanine. Until they knew more about why McGee had been taken, he needed to organise protective details for his team.

...

Abby grumbled to herself as she climbed the stairs to her floor, behind Agent McMillan, her new protective detail officer. She'd tried to convince Gibbs that she didn't need a detail, but he'd insisted. So she'd given in, and now they were going back to her apartment so she could grab a few things. She fully intended to stay at Headquarters until they found Timmy; she wanted to be there when they brought him home. She refused to think about the possibility that they wouldn't find him.

She rounded the last corner and went to her door, fishing in her pocket for her key. It was taken out of her hand by McMillan.

"Stand back, ma'am."

Indignant, she opened her mouth to frame a reply as he stepped into her lounge room. She only just had time to see him begin to fall before something hit her across the back of the neck and she descended into blackness.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Ok, this one is a little darker. Hope you like it... though I must say this isn't the most popular story I've ever written. Oh well. F.**

McGee hung limply, too exhausted to support his own weight. He'd tried and failed to fight back against the hooded man and his metal pipe; the third blow, he was pretty sure, had broken his wrist as he tried to block it. A further blow had stunned him long enough for the man to drag him to the wall and chain him so that he could barely stand properly.

The pain in his wrist was close to unbearable in this position; underneath his clothes he could feel a myriad of bruises forming, and from the feel of it, the one blow that had caught him across the face had broken his nose. His one consolation was that he hadn't given in; hadn't given them the information they wanted.

The questions were odd somehow. They hadn't wanted things like where Gibbs lived; they wanted to know routines, habits. There was something in that, he knew it, but right now he couldn't make sense of it.

As the throbbing started to diminish, he opened his one good eye and looked around, trying to get more of an idea of where he was being held. It appeared to be a windowless, concrete box. Apart from the slot in the door, the only light came from the screen mounted up near the roof. It was a heavy duty monitor, the sort you saw in airports and train stations, and it was the only thing that looked to be new. Closer to the door, marks on the wall showed where something that had been fixed there had been removed. Brackets of some sort? He puzzled over it, trying to put the pieces together. Finally it came to him. It was a prison cell, most likely one used for solitary confinement. The brackets must have originally held a bed of some sort. But where? He couldn't think of a single abandoned prison facility anywhere near DC, and unless more time had passed than he'd realised, he couldn't have been taken far. Exhausted, he slumped back down, tilting to his injured right side to take some of the stress off his wrist.

...

Gibbs was restless. Abby's detail was-by his estimation- five minutes overdue to call in. He stared at his phone, mentally counting down the seconds until he picked it up and tore her detail a new one. He was momentarily disappointed when it rang.

"Yeah. Gibbs."

"Gibbs. Agent Kershaw." Gibbs could hear the incipient panic in the normally unflappable agent's voice and tensed. "You need to get down here."

Gibbs hung up without a word, grabbing his gun and badge out of the drawer and headed for the elevator. "Tony, Ziva, with me."

He heard Tony's "Where are we going, Boss?" as he passed his desk but ignored it, seeing Tony scramble in his peripheral vision.

Barely giving his team and their protective officers time to get in the car, he gunned the engine and tore out of the parking lot. Fury engulfed him as he drove at high speed through the traffic and screeched to a stop out front of Abby's building.

Leaving the rest behind, he took the stairs to her second floor apartment two at a time. Coming around the last bend, he was confronted by the sight of Agent McMillan sitting on the floor with what appeared to be an icepack held to the back of his head. Agent Kershaw hovered nearby, his face grim.

"Abby?"

Kershaw slowly shook his head, quailing under Gibbs' fierce glare.

"They were waiting for us" McMillan spoke from his spot against the door. "I never even saw them."

Gibbs turned away, towards Tony and Ziva.

"They've got Abby. Process the scene."

...

Slowly McGee raised his head. There was something different. The screen in the corner was lit up; it was split into quarters. He strained to see; one eye was swollen almost shut, making it hard to focus. When he could make out the picture clearly, he drew in his breath in surprise and anguish.

Tied to a chair, gagged, her green eyes wide in fear, was Abby.


	6. Chapter 6

Tony watched as Gibbs stalked into the bullpen and slammed his coffee down onto the desk. Fury radiated off the Boss in waves that were practically palpable; with McGee and Abby both missing and no leads besides two creepy notes, that was understandable.

"Talk to me" he demanded.

"Palmer confirmed that the blood used on the note in Abby's apartment is definitely hers." Palmer was filling in on the basic forensics until they could find a temporary replacement. At the look on Gibbs' face, he felt compelled to add "Sorry Boss."

"Ziva?"

"The unknown fingerprints in McGee's apartment are a match for Sarah McGee. So far Palmer has not had time to process the prints we found in Abby's apartment."

"So we've got nothing?" He threw his empty coffee cup into the trash in frustration. "Tony, I want you to make a list. Anybody that could be after McGee. Ziva. Find out who Abby's been dating in the past year. I want everything you can find on them."

Tony stopped partway through dialling Central Files

"Boss, you don't think it's another one of Abby's crazy stalker boyfriends do you? Cause nobody knew about McGeek and his McGoth." He pointed out, getting the full brunt of the Gibbs stare for his efforts. Ziva rescued him from it. "That is true, Tony. But their...unusual relationship is common knowledge, yes?"

"Is that Maurer guy out yet?" Tony asked. "You know, the one she took out the restraining order against?"

"I don't know DiNozzo, why don't you check?" Gibbs snapped.

"On it, Boss."

...

Gibbs left the building abruptly, going on another coffee run. A quick glance sufficed to make sure that his protective detail followed. He hoped that the fresh air would help clear his head. He knew he was snapping at what was left of his team, knew that there was no way they could work any faster without the leads and evidence they needed, but he couldn't seem to stop himself. He was worried. Worried about McGee and Abby, about what had happened to them. He couldn't bring himself to believe that they were dead; but that brought forward a whole world of possibilities, none of which he wanted to contemplate.

...

Tony was frowning in concentration as Gibbs re-entered the squad room.

"Got that list for me yet, DiNozzo?"

"Not yet, Boss. Looks like McGee has a lot of enemies, ranging from people we've put away to the family of Landon, that crazy fan that tried to kill Abby. Seems they blame him for Landon's... issues. They've made a couple of death threats, but none of them have been taken seriously." Tony's voice was grim.

"They are now. Got an address?"


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: This chapter is little darker than previous ones...**

**Thanks as always to Trina109 for beta-reading this for me :)**

His captors, McGee slowly realised, had chosen their placement well. The way they'd chained him to the wall, the only way he could avoid seeing the screen was to hang his head.

He felt like he was going crazy.

For hours, he'd hung against the wall and watched as the hooded man tortured Abby, beating her repeatedly with what appeared to be a length of chain. He was exhausted and in considerable pain from his own injuries, but somehow he'd been unable to look away, fearing that if he did, something worse might be done to her. And so he watched, flinching with every blow as the woman he loved writhed in pain. When it stopped- it looked like Abby had passed out- he cried like a baby. Finally he fell asleep out of sheer exhaustion.

... ...

The pain that had caused Abby to black out eventually pulled her back to consciousness. As she woke, she instinctively stretched, then stiffened. Every nerve ending felt like it was on fire. She knew without being able to see that her back and sides were a mass of welts; it felt like her shirt was stuck to her skin. She twisted painfully, trying to suppress a groan. It was hard to tell because of the black shirt, but it looked like the material was stuck to her with her own blood. She shuddered. She'd always liked chains; she'd worn them frequently and they were one of her favourite accessories. Not anymore.

She looked up to the screen in the corner. Last night, when she could still think and focus, before the pain became too great, she'd caught sight of McGee on that screen. She hadn't recognised him at first. His face was bloody, bruised and swollen. But the eyes never changed. He had the most expressive eyes of any man she'd ever met; it was one of the things that attracted her, even when they first met and he was still a little pudgy. She'd been able to look straight into his eyes on the screen, and what she saw there hurt almost as badly as the chains. Suffering.

He'd obviously been badly beaten, but she could tell he was crying and she didn't think it was from the pain. Tim was a lot stronger than most people gave him credit for; she couldn't remember ever having seen him cry before, not even when Jim Nelson was killed, although she knew how upset he'd been. It puzzled her for a moment. What had affected McGee so badly? Then she put two and two together; if she could see him on the screen he must be able to see her. She winced again. It was bad enough for her to see her Timmy like this, but at least she hadn't had to watch them inflict the damage she could see. McGee obviously had. Though they weren't quite at that stage in their relationship, she was well aware that Tim loved her. She hated to think how this would affect him.

...

At some point during the night, he shifted his weight to one side and put pressure on his injured wrist. The pain jerked him awake. He was disoriented for a second, then the events of the previous day came rolling back. Waking up in the cell. The hooded man and his steel pipe. Abby, being beaten with chains... Abby. God, Abby.

He looked up at the screen, both relieved and worried to see her alone, eyes closed. Was she sleeping? On the small screen, it was impossible to tell if she was still breathing. He hoped to God she was sleeping, and not dead. He watched her for a long time, reassuring himself that she still lived. As he watched, he came to an inescapable conclusion. They'd been unable to break him by beating him... but beating Abby was different. His parents had raised him to be chivalrous, a gentleman, and being unable to protect her...

They hadn't been able to break him through beating, but having to watch as they beat Abby... if they came, he knew he'd sing like a bird, tell them anything they wanted to know- as long as they let her go.

But no one came.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Yay, another chapter. I am writing, on and off, it's just not easy with the move. More soon :)**

**Thanks as always goes to Trina109 for taking time out of her increasingly hectic life to beta this for me. You rock! :)**

Gibbs drove like a man possessed. Tony clung tightly to the handle above the car door, for once wishing that Ziva was driving, rather than the Boss. He was glad that Landon's family lived relatively close to the Navy Yard; otherwise, he was pretty sure he was going to lose his lunch. Gibbs pulled the car in close to the kerb with a screech of brakes, slamming the door and stalking up the path before Tony and Ziva had time to recover their breath from the short but violent car trip. They caught up to him just as the door was answered to his heavy and insistent knocking. The woman who opened it, looking startled, appeared to be in her mid to late fifties. Her face hardened as Gibbs held up his badge and identification.

"Special Agent Gibbs."

"NCIS" she spat.

"You know who we are." Tony stated.

"Of course I know who you are. You're the ones protecting that scum, Timothy McGee."

"That is why we are here" Ziva put in.

"Need to know where you and your husband were two days ago." Gibbs told her.

"Why? Did someone do something to your precious special agent?" She sounded almost gleeful. Catching sight of the agents' faces, she continued. "You can't expect me to be sorry. That man destroyed my son!"

Tony saw Ziva start forward out of the corner of his eye and put his arm out to stop her. Disregarding the younger agents, Gibbs went on.

"Agent McGee is missing."

She smirked. "Well, as much as I wish it was, it wasn't us. We've been in Las Vegas for the last week, at a business conference."

...

"Alibi checks out, Boss." Tony stood and picked up the remote for the plasma, clicking it to bring up a series of photographs. "Landon's mother father and elder brother flew out to Vegas a week ago. They own a chain of fast food restaurants across DC; the trip to Vegas was their national conference."

"They definitely attended?"

"Yeah. In fact they won some big award. Over 600 people were there for the presentation. Sorry, Boss."

"So we've still got nothing?"

"You know it makes you wonder." Tony mused.

"Wonder what, Tony?" Ziva asked.

"How did two hard working people produce a son as unbalanced as Landon?"

"I don't care, DiNozzo!" Gibbs barked. "Do we have any other leads?"

"Ahh, I still have some of that list to compile..."

"And I will... finish checking the backgrounds of Abby's boyfriends."

Gibbs shook his head and strode out of the bullpen. Maybe Palmer had some answers.

...

Palmer was hunched over a microscope when Gibbs got down to the lab. He startled as soon as he realised Gibbs was standing behind him.

"Agent Gibbs!"

"Got anything, Palmer?" Gibbs tried to curb his impatience, knowing that the ME's assistant was nervous around him.

He nodded. "I matched most of the fingerprints from Abby's apartment to Abby and Agent McGee. There was one that didn't belong to them. It was on the light switch by the front door. It was only a latent print, and it looks like it was done through a glove. You know, most people don't realise you can still leave a fingerprint through a glove as long as it's stretched really tight and..."

"Palmer. The match?"

"What match? Oh the fingerprint match. I ran it through AFIS and didn't get anything."

"So you don't have a match?"

"Yeah I do." He quailed under Gibbs' icy blue stare. "It came up on an Interpol watch list." He brought a photo up on the monitor. "His name is Anatoly Demidov ; he's wanted for drug smuggling, people smuggling and murder. He's connected to the Novikov drug syndicate."

Gibbs stared at the screen, at a name he thought he'd never have to deal with again. Suddenly it was crystal clear. McGee and Abby weren't the targets- he was. He knew that Tony and Ziva were safe upstairs. That left Ducky.

With a sense of urgency, he asked "Palmer, is Ducky still here?"

Palmer shook his head, confused. "Doctor Mallard left about 20 minutes ago." As Gibbs ran from the room, he asked "Why? Is something wrong?"


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I'm baaa-aack! **

**According to my doc manager, it's been 36 days since I posted a thing. And boy, does it feel good to write again! Thank you to everyone that put up with my hiatus... hopefully you enjoy this chapter.**

**Thanks goes to my wonderful beta, Trina109, who scrambled and read this only a few hours after I finished it. You rock, Trina! :)  
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Gibbs took the stairs three at a time, too impatient to wait for the elevator. Reaching the squad room floor, he swiftly yanked the drawer containing his gun and badge open, holstering the weapon while Tony and Ziva stared at him in bemusement. "Grab your gear" he barked at them, not waiting to see whether or not they'd followed his order.

Once clear of the Navy Yard he gunned the engine, driving with even less care than usual for the other traffic on the road. He had to try to get there before the Novikovs took Ducky. But the whole way his gut screamed that he was too late, that all they'd find was an empty house and a bloody note.

He pulled up in front of Ducky's brownstone, ignoring the screech from the protesting tyres and brakes and ran to the house, his gun drawn and ready. Once the rest of his team was at his back, he kicked the door in, quickly clearing the front room and gesturing for Tony and Ziva to branch out to the rest of the house. Ducky's hat and coat hung in the entranceway as normal; the ME had obviously made it home. If he was here, and conscious, there was no way he could have missed their entrance. Gibbs made his way cautiously up the stairs to the upper level, clearing each room as he went.

He found it in what was obviously the master bedroom. Propped up on the dresser was the inevitable note, the dark red ink- blood, he corrected grimly-still glistening wetly.

"And then there were two."

...

"We were following the wrong trail."

Tony clicked the remote, bringing up the next crime scene photo with a sort of restrained viciousness.

"Landon was the obvious suspect, Tony." Ziva replied.

"Until they took Ducky, you mean. And now we don't even have any idea who 'they' are." Tony pointed out.

Ziva opened her mouth to retort, but was stopped by Gibbs' voice from behind them.

"Tony's right, Ziva. McGee was just the first victim, not the ultimate target."

Tony turned at his words

"So who is the ultimate target, Boss?"

"Me."

...

The man with his steel pipe had returned. McGee had tried, desperately, to tell him to let Abby go, that he would give them the information that they needed. But the hooded man had concentrated on his chest and abdomen this time, robbing him of breath and making it impossible for him to speak.

And then, all at once, it was over. Still panting from the beating, he raised his head and squinted through his swollen eyelids at the screen in the corner. Abby appeared to still be sleeping, for which he was thankful. He didn't want her to see him. Not like this.

As he watched, a third quadrant of the screen flickered into life. He did his best to bite back a moan as he recognised the huddled figure in the corner. It was Ducky.


	10. Chapter 10

"You?" DiNozzo's voice was filled with shock and disbelief.

"That's right, DiNozzo."

"So... who's after you?"

"Svetlana Novikova."

Gibbs saw recognition on Ziva's face at the name.

"Svetlana who?" Tony asked.

"Novikova." Ziva replied. "She's the head of the Novikov drug syndicate. They are the largest of the Russian crime families."

"Ok, so why is she after Gibbs?" Tony asked.

"I don't know, DiNozzo, maybe because I killed her father."

Tony opened his mouth to reply, but was prevented by an elbow in the ribs from Ziva. She pointed to the plasma screen. "Look."

The darkened screen had come to life. On the screen was a video feed; they could see Abby, slumped to the ground, apparently unconscious; McGee, chained to a wall, head bowed and bloody; and Ducky, huddled in a corner.

Tony turned from his horrified contemplation of the screen to see Gibbs inexplicably grinning.

"They just made their first mistake."  
>"Boss?"<p>

"Get Palmer and someone from Cybercrimes up here."

Tony nodded.

"On it, Boss."

...

This wasn't working.

Despite his attempts to give them the information they wanted, they were still beating Abby. Savagely. Even on the dinky screen in the corner, even with his blurry vision, he could see the bleeding crisscross marks left by the chains on her usually alabaster skin.

And now they were going to start in on Ducky, too. This was his family, damn it! They didn't deserve this. He had to help them. Somehow.

He hung motionless for a long time, thinking. The only way he could help Abby and Ducky was if he could get free. But how? He was chained to the wall, same as he had been for... however long he'd been there. For the first time he looked up, studying the chains that held him to the wall. While the chains were sturdy, the cuffs around his wrists looked identical to the handcuffs they, and every law enforcement officer in the United States, carried as part of their standard equipment. Not only that, they weren't done up all that tightly- probably they hadn't thought it was necessary as his hands were bound over his head. Maybe, just maybe, he could get his hands free.

McGee grimaced at that. To get his hands free, he would have to transfer all his weight to one side, to reduce the drag on the side he was working on. Which meant, at some point he was going to have to effectively hang by his broken wrist. He wasn't sure if he could do it... if anything, his wrist had weakened further since it had been broken.

But he had to try.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Yay, two chapters in one day!**

**Thanks, as always, to my lovely beta Trina109. You rock Trina!**

A young, weedy looking man arrived in the squad room a few minutes later, approaching Gibbs' desk hesitantly. Gibbs looked up, noting the pallor of the kid's face and the wide eyes, and smirked inwardly. His reputation had apparently spread as far as Cybercrimes, a section he barely even thought about.

"Agent- Agent Gibbs?" the young man stuttered.

"That's me" he confirmed.

"I-I was sent up here and-"

"You from Cybercrimes?"

"Ye-yes sir. I'm Brian Cooper, sir. My supervisor sent me up here. What do you need, sir?"

Gibbs gave the kid a measuring look. He seemed young, and green, but then so had McGee when he joined the team. And with Abby and McGee both missing, they definitely needed Cybercrime's help with this one.

"Ok, Cooper, we need your help. Someone is transmitting video onto our plasma screen, and we need to know where it's coming from. Can you trace that or something?"

Copper bobbed his head nervously. "I can try, sir. I need to see the video, and I need a computer that has access to the plasma screen."

Gibbs pointed over the kid's shoulder. "There's your video."

Copper turned to look at the screen and gasped audibly.

"That-that's Agent McGee, isn't it sir?"

Gibbs nodded.

"I'd heard he was missing." There was sadness in the young man's voice. "Is-is he alive?"

"At the moment." Gibbs paused. There was something about the sadness in the young man's tone. "Do you know Agent McGee?"

"Yes sir. He joined Cybercrimes not long before I started, sir. He was different, sir. Most field agents pretty much ignore us. But Agent McGee... he treated us like equals."

Gibbs gave a half smile. That sounded like McGee, all right.

"You need to know where this is coming from, sir?"

Gibbs nodded. "You can use that computer" he added, pointing to McGee's desk.

Cooper settled himself at the desk and started the computer.

"Sir? You're going to get him back, right?" he asked.

"We'll get him back."

"Good, sir." Relief filled the young man's face before he bent his head back to the screen in front of him.

"And Cooper?"

"Yes sir?"

"Don't call me sir."

...

It felt like he hadn't slept in a week.

Tony hated being under protection; he much preferred being on the detail, rather than the subject of it. All aspects of life were so restricted when you had to take two agents around with you. He didn't even get to drive; his prized Mustang was stuck in the NCIS parking lot, and he was forced to ride in the back of one of the many black sedans the Agency owned.

Gibbs had allowed them to go home for the night, instead of insisting that they stay at Headquarters; his reasoning being that they needed a good night's sleep to be able to function clearly tomorrow, when he hoped they'd have a location for where the rest of the team was being held.

The car slowed and pulled into the kerb in front of his apartment building. He wasn't paying much attention to what his detail was doing; he was too tired. Until he heard the unmistakeable 'phut' of a silenced pistol. His head snapped around. Surely they weren't coming after him in the middle of a crowded street? Except, he modified, at this time of night his usually crowded street was a deserted street.

He found himself looking straight into the barrel of the pistol. It took him a moment to register that it was being held by one of the agents tasked to protect him.

"Get out of the car."

"They got to you, huh?"

"Get out of the car." Agent Shapko cocked the pistol he had pointed right between Tony's eyes. Tony swallowed. In the close confines of the car, he had no chance of being able to defend himself. Reluctantly, he clambered out of the car. As he turned to face the traitor agent, he felt something catch him across the back of the head. He slumped to the ground.

...

Gibbs rubbed at his face wearily as he looked across the bullpen. The kid hadn't moved- other than his hands, which were typing at a speed close to that of McGee's- in hours. There was something almost unnerving in his intensity. Idly he wondered if it was a computer geek thing. He'd seen McGee go into a similar, almost trance-like state many times.

He'd sent Tony and Ziva home hours ago; when they got the information he was hoping Cooper and Palmer could provide, he needed them sharp and on the ball, ready to get back the rest of his team. Palmer was downstairs in Abby's lab, attempting to figure out what sort of a room the captives were being held in from the footage on the plasma.

He glanced over at McGee's desk again. He got the feeling that the kid would work right through the night if he let him. Dedication was a trait he admired. He decided against going home himself; he'd stay here, just in case Cooper and Palmer came through with a location.

His cell rang. He flipped it open, noting Ziva's name on the caller ID with surprise.

"Yeah, Gibbs."

"Gibbs. I cannot get in contact with Tony."

"Have you tried his detail?"

"Yes; Tony's phone is switched off, and his details' phones are not being answered."

Cursing, Gibbs hung up, grabbing up his desk phone. He called all three cell numbers without success, knowing what that meant.

Tony was missing.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Did you enjoy the cliffhanger on the last chapter? Evil, wasn't it?**

**Thanks to Trina109 for beta-ing this, and for picking up on the mistakes I make when I try to type too fast when I'm tired. F.**

Seeing an unconscious Tony being dragged into a cell spurred Tim on to redouble his efforts to free himself.

He'd tried every angle he could think of to try and get his hand through the cuff, rubbing his good wrist red raw in the process, and now he was running out of ideas. He couldn't get the cuff over his thumb, and he couldn't get his fingers free without getting the cuff over his wrist first. The only thing he could think of to get free was to attempt to dislocate his thumb... but that meant he'd be even more incapacitated than he already was. He wouldn't be able to grip anything once it was done, and he had grave doubts of his ability to fight back. Considering they had them all on camera, beaming the footage into each cell, it was only logical that they were monitoring the cells themselves. They'd know he was free as soon as he dropped down from his hanging position against the wall, and send someone in to deal with him.

He looked back at the screen, at the forms of the people that were closer to him than his own family. He had to do this.

...

It was quicker for Ziva to go directly to Tony's apartment, but Gibbs was unwilling to expose his last remaining agent to any more danger. Before she reached headquarters, Gibbs got the call he'd been dreading.

"Agent Gibbs!"

He looked up to the mezzanine to see Director Vance leaning on the railing.

He jogged up the stairs to meet him.

"I just got a call from Metro PD. They've found the body of one of our agents."

"Who?"

"Agent Mark Reilly. He was assigned to-"

"DiNozzo's protective detail."

"That's right."

"I'll get Ziva." He turned to leave, but was stopped by Vance's voice.

"Not so fast, Agent Gibbs. Metro PD is transferring the body and all the physical evidence here. I want you and Agent David to remain here, in this building."

"My team-"

"Your team, by and large, is missing, Agent Gibbs. You, Agent David, Palmer and all of your protective details are to stay here. That's an order, Agent Gibbs."

...

Gibbs walked back down the stairs, his mind already turning over ways to get around Vance's order. It went against the grain of any Marine to ignore a direct order, but this was his team, and these crazies were after him. He didn't trust anyone else to go in and get them out of whatever godforsaken hellhole they'd been put in.

Because of him.

The mission to kill Yuri Novikov had been one of the many undercover missions he'd undertaken in his time with the European office. He'd had reservations about that particular mission from the beginning; Novikov had been a noted arms dealer and drug kingpin, and Gibbs agreed that his organisation needed to be taken down. But he also knew that removing the head of the organisation didn't necessarily mean that the organisation would collapse. These things were like the mythical hydra; you cut one head off, and another one grew back in its place.

...

With Ducky missing, the Director had called in Dr. Jordan Hampton to take care of his duties until he returned to work. She was methodical and thorough; Palmer knew that Dr. Mallard approved of her and her work.

She quickly started the autopsy on Agent Reilly, sending the single slug she found to Palmer in the forensics lab. Ballistics wasn't his strong suit; luckily for him, the slug was relatively undamaged, having destroyed mainly soft tissues in killing Agent Reilly. He put the slug under the microscope, same as he'd seen Abby do many times, set the resulting images to match against the appropriate database, then returned to attempting to enhance the stills taken from the video so that he could try and help Gibbs and Ziva locate the missing members of Gibbs' team.

He didn't know how Abby managed to do things like this. The people in these photos weren't abstract; they were people he knew, people he cared about. Dr .Mallard was his mentor; he'd learned so much from the elderly man. McGee was the closest thing he had to a friend in the building; and he had to admit to having a crush on Abby. He had to help get them back.

A frantic series of 'dings' from the ballistics computer drew his attention away from the photos. He looked over to see that it was showing a match. As soon as the significance of the results sank in, he picked up the phone and called Gibbs' desk.

...

Gibbs hung up on Palmer, cursing loud enough to draw a look from Ziva. He got up from his desk, jogging up the stairs to the mezzanine and Vance's office. He opened the door with his usual lack of ceremony.

"Agent Gibbs. Why do I bother even having a door?"

Gibbs ignored him. "Got a match on the bullet that killed Reilly."

Now he had Vance's full attention.

"It came from Agent Shapko's weapon. Shapko is missing, along with Tony."

"So either Shapko's weapon was taken and used on Reilly..."

"Or we have a traitor inside NCIS."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I know I keep saying this... I will get back to updating on a more regular schedule. Real life keeps getting in the way lol**

Gibbs returned to the bullpen to find Cooper waiting by his desk with an excited expression on his face.

"I found it!"

"You found where the video is coming from?"

"Yep!" He exclaimed happily. "It took me longer than I expected because some of the channels the feed was bounced through are secure and I had to find my way around the security before-" He caught himself up, a scared look on his face as he realised he'd just admitted to hacking into secure channels. Gibbs gestured for him to continue. He didn't care how Cooper had managed to do it; he'd deal with the consequences later.

"I finally found the source" Cooper finished quietly.

"Where?"

"Norfolk Naval Station. That's as close as I can get."

...

"Palmer."

The sound of Gibbs' voice right behind him startled the young ME's assistant. He jumped and spun around. There was a look on the team leader's face that he recognised from when Abby's lab nerd had tried to frame DiNozzo. Involuntarily he shuddered. Gibbs was intimidating at the best of times; but this was enough to scare the devil himself.

"I need to know anything you've found out from the tape. Anything at all."

"Um... the walls where they're being held are concrete. It's hard to tell from the images, but I doubt they have windows; everything is too dark. It's not much, sorry Agent Gibbs-"

He stopped himself. Gibbs had broken into a rare smile.

"You may have just saved their lives."

Gibbs turned and almost bolted out of the lab, leaving a slightly bewildered Palmer behind him.

...

"Ziva!"

She turned at the sound of her name, her pack already slung over one shoulder.

"Palmer says they're being held in concrete rooms. Let's go."

They took the elevator, Gibbs being careful to avoid Vance's notice. They had a possible traitor inside NCIS; he wasn't entrusting the rescue of his team to anyone else.

Once they'd made it out of the NCIS parking lot, Ziva finally spoke.

"Do we really have enough information to be heading out like this, Gibbs? How do you know we are not on a wild turkey chase?"

He assumed she meant wild goose chase, but didn't bother to correct her. "Would you rather sit at headquarters and watch them get beaten some more?"

He saw her wince out of the corner of his eye at that. After a moment of strained silence, he relented.

"Had a case once, few years ago. A Navy chaplain was kidnapping women. We found one of them in an unused munitions locker."

"And you think the Novikovs have hidden them the same way?"

"Makes sense."

They reached Norfolk in record time owing to Gibbs' more than usually reckless driving, showing their credentials at the gate and going straight to the base commander's quarters to enlist his help.

...

"Let me get this straight. A Russian criminal ring has kidnapped four of your team, held them hostage and systematically tortured them, all to get at you." The captain's tone was disbelieving at best

"Yes sir."

"And you believe that this has occurred on my base; a secure naval facility."

That did it. While this pencil pusher was stalling, his team, his family were suffering. Gibbs had had dealings with the captain before. It was time to remind him of it.

"Not that secure."

He watched with grim satisfaction as the captain flushed, knowing that he must have been remembering some of the more glaring breaches of security that his team had investigated.

"Every moment you waste brings my team closer to death, captain." He took a step closer to the naval officer. "I'm sure SecNav would be interested to know why we didn't find them in time."

He saw the captain swallow convulsively before picking up the phone on his desk and requesting a detail of Marines.

"You'd better know what you're doing, Agent Gibbs."

Neither the two agents, nor any member of the detail, saw the captain's aide pull out a cell phone and make a quiet call.

...

Anatoly slammed the phone down so hard it broke in two, cursing loudly in his native tongue.

"Trouble?"

He turned to find Svetlana watching him. He nodded, a sharp, furious jerk of the head.

"That was Petr." He gave the name the Russian pronunciation. "Agent Gibbs is on the way here, with Marines." He moved to grab his meagre belongings off the floor. "We need to get out of here, now."

She held up a hand, stopping him. There was a strange light in her eyes, more pronounced than the fanatical gleam that she'd had since they'd taken the first prisoner.

"I have a better idea. Kill them all. I want Gibbs to suffer, the way he made me and my mother suffer."

Anatoly's lips curved in a feral smile. She'd been restraining him all week, preventing him from inflicting enough damage to kill their captors. Now, he'd get to finish what he'd started.

...

McGee dropped to the ground, panting hoarsely, shivering from the pain and the physical exertion. He couldn't allow himself to relax, not even for an instant. Forcing himself to continue with his self assigned task, he turned his attention back to his mangled hands.

The thumbs of both his hands protruded at strange and unnatural angles. It had taken time, and all the willpower he possessed to stop himself from gagging at the snap and crunching sound of his own thumb being forced out of its socket, but he'd done it. Now, if he was to have any chance of getting free of the cell, he'd have to get at least one of his thumbs back where it belonged.

Steeling himself, he placed the palm of his injured right hand against his left thumb, pushing with all the strength he could muster, twisting the digit, trying to find the angle that would allow the thumb to slide back into the socket. The pain was excruciating. Both his broken wrist and his dislocated thumb protested.

And then suddenly, the pain stopped. With an audible 'click', the base of the thumb slipped over the edge of the socket. Disbelieving, he flexed his thumb. It was sore, but he could move it.

A sound from outside attracted his attention. Quickly, he gave up trying to reset his other thumb. One hand would have to do. The door was flung open and his usual tormentor entered, this time without his hood. McGee saw his look of shock as the man took in this unchained state and attempted to rush him.

The man hit him an almost casual blow with the steel pipe, catching him in the midriff and robbing him of breath.

"Brave, aren't you?" he sneered. "Let's see how brave you really are." He grabbed McGee's hair, forcing his head up, forcing him to look at the screen.

"Time to watch your girlfriend die, little man."

He saw the chain go around her neck, saw her struggle, horrified. When she collapsed and went limp, he started to scream. He couldn't help himself. He was still screaming as the steel pipe connected with the back of his head, knocking him to the ground.

Blackness.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Yay, a chapter!**

**Thanks, as always, to my lightning-fast beta, Trina109. F.  
><strong>

It was dark, and cold. He could hear voices in the darkness, indistinct and somehow fuzzy. They were calling him back, and he didn't want to go back.

Abby was dead.

He could have saved her, should have saved her. But he hadn't. And the others... he hadn't rescued them either.

He'd failed them.

And the voices still called him back, back to a place where he didn't want to be. He'd watched Abby die; but what about the others? If he went back, the voices that were rapidly getting clearer might tell him that he'd lost them all.

The voices were sharper now; distinct... he could separate them into people now.

"Jesus." That was Tony. Tony. He'd been there. At least someone else had made it. "Is he still alive?"

"Just barely." Gibbs. His voice was grimmer than McGee had ever heard it. Grim, and furious. He didn't want to face that fury.

"Get those EMTs in here NOW!"

"McGee. McGee, can you hear me?" With a mental sigh, McGee gave up fighting his return to the world. Reacting to a question from Gibbs was almost instinctive.

...

One eye came slightly open; Gibbs could see the glimmer of green behind the swollen lids. He let some of the tension leave him in relief. From what he could see, McGee had been badly beaten, and the bruises on his head and neck told their own story. Gibbs had worried that the blow that had knocked his agent unconscious had caused damage that couldn't be fixed.

"Boss" McGee croaked. "Leave me."

"We're not going to leave you, McGee."

"Abby...dead. My fault. Sorry Boss."

The eye closed again.

"McGee! Stay with us, Tim!" He shook the younger agent's shoulder gently, trying not to cause any more damage. The EMTs pushed past him, shoving him back out of the way so they could work on the unconscious agent. He stood up, full of helpless rage. He needed to get through to the young man, but he knew that he had to let the EMTs work if Tim was to have any chance of survival.

He felt a soft touch on his shoulder and spun.

"Duck. You should be over there." He gestured towards the outside, where the ambulances waited.

"How is he?" There was a note of steel in the elderly ME's voice, and Gibbs knew there was little point in arguing with him. At least once he knew how McGee was, Gibbs might be able to convince Ducky to go to the hospital.

"Unconscious for now, Duck."

"Did he say anything?"

Gibbs nodded. "He thinks Abby is dead."

"And she would have been had you and Ziva not gotten to her when you did." Ducky pointed out.

"Yeah, but how do we tell him that?" Gibbs sighed. "He told me to leave him, Duck... he thinks this was his fault."

"Oh, the poor boy! You didn't tell him she's alive?"

"Couldn't. He passed out again before I could tell him."

They fell silent as the EMTs passed by them, carrying an immobilised McGee on a backboard between them. They loaded him into the back of one of the ambulances. One of the EMTs turned.

"Hey. Which one of you is riding in with us?"

"Go, Jethro. The Marines have the area secured."

"What about you? You're supposed to be in one of those."

"I'm perfectly fine, Jethro."

He snorted at that. Ducky had an egg on the back of his head, crusted blood down one side of his face and an obvious limp. He should turn the older man over to the EMTs. But right now, he didn't have the time for an argument.

Gibbs took one last look at the concrete cage that McGee had been kept in, feeling the rage build again, then turned and headed for the waiting ambulance.

...

Ziva found Tony outside. His face was set in stony lines and his knuckles were torn and bleeding. She leant against the wall he had evidently punched and waited a moment before she spoke.

"How is McGee?"

"Alive. Barely." The words came out clipped, and Ziva knew Tony was trying to contain whatever it was he was feeling. "He thinks Abby is dead."

She was unable to control her flinch. "Have you seen Abby?" She had to force the words out of her suddenly tight throat. She would not cry; she wouldn't let herself.

He shook his head. "They'd already loaded her up by the time I got out." He took a deep breath.

"They were concentrating on Abby and McGee."

She felt the anger climb at his words, and held on to it. Stay angry, she told herself. She would wait until she got home to cry. Her friends, her family needed her to be strong right now.

Finally Tony turned to look at her, his eyes dark with emotions she could only guess at.

"Where are they taking them?"

"To the base hospital."

"Let's go."


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: This chapter is short but critical. **

**Thanks goes to Trina109, for betaing 2 chapters so close together. F. **

The distance to the base hospital wasn't far; still, the ambulance carrying McGee made it faster than Gibbs thought was possible for such an unwieldy vehicle. They reached the emergency entrance just as Abby was being unloaded. She'd been loaded into an ambulance a full 5 minutes earlier than McGee had; the fact that McGee's ambulance had made it so quickly struck Gibbs as ominous.

But he didn't have time to dwell on that. It seemed like they'd barely even stopped when the back doors were yanked open and the paramedics started the process of transferring his agent into the care of the hospital staff. He tried to keep up with the rapid fire summation of McGee's condition, but the complex medical terms seemed to run into each other, becoming gibberish. It was all he could do to keep up with the rapidly moving gurney, as more medical personnel gathered around McGee.

One of them, a nurse he presumed, turned at one point and stopped him, politely but in no uncertain terms.

"You can't come back here, sir."

As quickly as they'd arrived, they were gone, taking McGee somewhere into the depths of the hospital corridors.

He looked around, trying to find where they'd taken Abby, but was firmly escorted to the waiting room, the orderly telling him that they'd let him know as soon as they had news on either of them.

And so he waited, joined quickly by Ducky, Tony and Ziva. He tried to insist that Ducky get his head, and Tony his hand, tended to, but they were resolute in refusing. He understood; if they were taken somewhere into the back, there was the possibility that they'd miss hearing news of Tim and Abby.

...

The nurse that had stopped him reappeared a bare ten minutes after he'd been joined by the rest of his team. Accustomed to the long waiting times in hospital emergency rooms, the speed of her reappearance took Gibbs by surprise.

She spotted him and made her way over to where he and his team sat. As she got closer, Gibbs stood up.

"Family of Timothy McGee?"

"Something like that" Gibbs admitted.

She paused. "Are you Mr McGee's next of kin?"

"Agent McGee" Gibbs emphasised his title. "I'm Special Agent Gibbs; I'm his team leader. I came in with him."

He could see the doubtful look on her face and knew she wasn't going to give him any information. He opened his mouth to try and persuade her; beside him, Ducky stood up.

"Excuse me, my dear."

The nurse turned towards him. "Yes, sir?"

"I'm Doctor Donald Mallard. I'm Agent McGee's personal physician. Can you tell me what his condition is?"

She glanced at Gibbs, Tony and Ziva, then motioned for Ducky to step away with her. They conversed in tones too low for Gibbs to overhear, but he could see the look of Ducky's face grow more and more grave. In a few minutes, she turned and made her way back across the waiting room and Ducky rejoined the group.

"What's the word, Duck?"

"Timothy's injuries are severe... dislocated thumbs, a broken wrist, broken ribs, a lot of bruising and some internal bleeding. But the big problem is the head injury. They're not equipped to treat it here. They're airlifting him to Bethesda."


	16. Chapter 16

Even Gibbs' driving couldn't keep up with a medivac helicopter. That didn't prevent him from getting what remained of his team back to Bethesda hospital as quickly as he was capable of. In the rear view mirror he could see Tony hanging on to the handle above the window, something his senior agent didn't normally do. Inwardly he smirked. The half smile quickly died away.

Before they'd left Norfolk, he'd gone in to see Abby for a few moments. She was sedated and cocooned in bandages from the neck down where what she'd been through had left her skin red raw and bleeding. He didn't know what they'd done to her; hadn't pressed Ducky or Tony for details. He would, in coming days, but not yet. Despite the bandages, he could still see the ligature mark where Novikova had tried to choke her to death. The sight brought him close to tears, something that didn't happen easily.

He'd felt torn, leaving her here like that, with no-one that cared nearby; at least until he'd heard Ducky talking to her treating doctor. He'd never fully appreciated quite how persuasive his old friend could be, but the upshot of that conversation was that Abby was behind them somewhere in an ambulance, being transferred by road to Bethesda.

...

They were about 70 miles out of Norfolk when a stray thought crossed his mind, making him curse quietly and reach for his cell phone. He could sense the others in the car looking at him curiously as he flipped it open and dialled.

The McGee's were waiting on news of their son. By now, he knew, the hospital would have called them- they were his legal next of kin, after all- but it didn't matter. McGee was part of his team, he was the team leader, and that made it his responsibility. Same as it would be his responsibility later to call Abby's mother and tell her.

He hated making these calls, was glad they didn't have to be made too often. Even so, every single one of them was seared into his memory. At least this one, there was the possibility of hope.

The phone was answered so quickly, he could have sworn that the person on the other end was waiting for him to call.

"Agent Gibbs?"  
>Now he knew they'd been waiting. There was a strange depth of feeling to the two words, hope, desperation and the glimpse of one man's personal hell. He couldn't bear to spin it out.<p>

"We got him."

There was silence, and for a long moment Gibbs thought they'd been disconnected. Then he caught the slight, choked noise and knew that Tim's father was doing his best not to cry.

"Is he ok?"

"He's in pretty bad shape. They're taking him to Bethesda-"

He was cut off. "We'll be right there."

The phone went dead, and Gibbs had to hide a smile. Given the opportunity, he rather thought he'd like McGee's parents.

...

They raced through the city traffic, pulling the car into a less-than-legal park in front of the hospital emergency department. Leaving the others to deal with an annoyed MP, Gibbs strode to the desk, waiting impatiently while the clerk looked for the information he wanted. He got the information just as Ducky touched him on the arm, an enquiring look on his face.

"They've taken him straight into surgery" he told his team. They stood in silence as the news sunk in. 'Straight into surgery' didn't sound good to any of them. Finally it was Tony who spoke.

"What do we do now, Boss?" And Gibbs knew that Tony knew full well that the only thing they could for McGee was hope, and that what he was really asking for was guidance and reassurance. But right now, Gibbs had none to give.

"Now we wait."


	17. Chapter 17

None of them were good at waiting.

Every time they'd had to sit like this, sit and wait for news of one of their team, they'd had other things to do. To occupy them so the wait didn't seem quite as interminable as this. Now they had nothing. Novikova was dead- Gibbs' double-tap had seen to that-, her henchman was in custody and the Director had turned the case over to another team. The only activity had been when McGee's parents and sister had arrived, and later when Abby was unloaded after her transfer from Bethesda. She was asleep again, sedated, something she'd tried to resist. She'd only consented once Gibbs had convinced her that McGee was going to be in surgery for hours yet. Even then, she'd made him promise that he'd wake her when they had news. He only hoped he'd have good news to wake her with.

Gibbs broke the boredom a little by practically forcing Ducky to have his injuries assessed, much to his old friend's disgust. He was relieved when they were pronounced to be minor; soon Ducky rejoined the group in the waiting room, and the tedium settled in again.

...

Hours passed.

Finally, after what felt like days, a doctor appeared in the waiting room.

"Family of Timothy McGee?"

McGee's parents stood; instinctively Gibbs stood also, and then felt foolish for doing so. Before he could sit again, Brett McGee waved him over, Maureen adding her encouragement.

"You should hear this too."  
>The doctor waited until Gibbs was level with the McGees before beginning<p>

"Your son was brought in with a depressed skull fracture. The pressure that the bone put on the brain caused a large subdural haematoma- a blood clot on the surface of the brain." He paused, making sure that he was being understood. "Now, I removed the fragment of bone, and the blood clot. He's being taken to intensive care straight away."

"Is-is he going to be ok?" Maureen choked out.

"It's too early to tell" the doctor said gently. "The next 24 hours are critical."

"Can we see him?" The question came from Brett.

"For short periods, yes. And no more than 2 people at a time."

The doctor signalled to someone in the background; an orderly came forward and led the McGees away down the corridor. The doctor waited until they were out of earshot before addressing Gibbs

"How did Agent McGee get his injuries? The head wound was obviously fresh, but some of his other injuries had started to heal."

Gibbs sighed. "McGee was tortured, Doc. They chained him to a wall and beat him... with a length of steel pipe."

The doctor nodded. "I see. But that doesn't explain the injuries to his hands." At Gibbs' quizzical look, he continued "I assume he was handcuffed?"

"That's right."

"Both your agent's thumbs were dislocated. While it's extremely painful, no torturer would do that- it's about the only way a handcuffed person can get their hands out of the cuffs. Furthermore, one of McGee's thumbs had been reset."

"And?"

"Once a dislocated joint has been reset, the pain eases almost instantly. Why would a torturer deliberately stop his victim from feeling pain?" He paused for a moment, making sure Gibbs understood what he was saying. "Was Agent McGee handcuffed when you found him?"

Gibbs shook his head slowly.

"Then I'd say your agent was trying to escape."


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I'm back... Well, sort of. My daughter is now 3 months old, and I'm just starting to write again. It's not easy to get time, as I'm sure you'll understand! Rest assured, I am not abandoning any of my stories. Thank you for your patience. F. **

**As always, a big thanks to Trina109 for beta-ing this.**

Tony hesitated on the threshold, taken aback by the condition of the man in the bed.

It was hard to discern that there was in fact a human being underneath the mass of medical equipment. Since he'd seen McGee last, the bruising on his face had deepened, his head had been shaved and swathed in bandages, and his arm had been encased in a fibreglass cast. What little was visible was either an angry red or a deep purple. The sight almost brought the older agent to tears.

Swallowing against the lump in his throat, he settled into the chair beside the bed.

"We got the bastards, Probie." Somehow it seemed like the most appropriate thing to say. "Gibbs...well, I've never seen anything like it. When we got the door open and saw Demidov whaling on you like that, Gibbs just lost it. Ziva had to hold him back. Thought for a moment he was going to kill Demidov with his bare hands."

He paused. "Guess Ducky and I got off lightly." He paused again as a thought crystallized in his mind. Slowly he repeated what he'd told Ziva back at Norfolk. "They were concentrating on you two."

He stood, apologising to McGee as he left to find Gibbs.

...

After drawing a blank at the cafeteria, he found Gibbs leaving Abby's room.

"How's she doing?"

The sideways tilt of the head was expressive; it screamed 'Not well'. "She's insisting on seeing McGee."

Tony drew in his breath sharply, thinking of his own reaction to McGee's condition. "Do you think that's a good idea, Boss?"

"No. Convinced her that she'd have to wait till her brother gets here. I thought you were in with McGee?"

"I was... I was thinking...Boss, why take McGee first? He's an agent, he can protect himself. Ducky or even Palmer would be an easier target. And why Abby next? She had a protective detail. Unless they knew they could use her..."

Gibbs finished his thought. "To get to him." Gibbs nodded, knowing he was following the same train of thought as Tony. Outwardly, McGee often appeared as the weak member of his team. Those close to him knew that he had an inward core of steel that was frequently unsuspected and almost always underestimated.

"They thought he was weak..." Gibbs mused out loud." And they knew they could use Abby to get to him." Someone had been passing information on the team to Novikova.

"Have they found Shapko yet?"

Gibbs shook his head at Tony's question. "Not yet."

"And how did he know about Abby and McGee? We didn't even know about Abby and McGee." Tony asked.

"Everyone in the Navy Yard knows about their friendship" Ziva pointed out. Tony turned, shaking his head; he hadn't even heard her come up behind him. "You said it yourself, Ziva; he hasn't been spending as much time in Abby's lab lately. And Shapko only transferred stateside a couple of months ago. So either he's been stalking them..."

"Or we have another mole at NCIS."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: I'd almost forgotten how much fun fanfic can be. At least when the ideas are flowing. More soon.**

**Thanks goes to Trina109 :)**

Abby woke to find Luca sitting next to her bed. He was looking towards the door, which someone was closing gently behind them. When he realised she was awake, a slow smile spread across his face.

"Hey; how're you feeling?"

She tried to stretch a little and winced. The bandages that covered her back felt stiff against the weals left by the chain.

"Sore. Very sore." Her throat felt swollen; it was hard to talk above a whisper.

"I'm not surprised, Abby." The sympathy in his eyes let her know that he'd been told what had happened.

"How's McGee?"

"You call your boyfriend by his last name?"

She waved a hand, dismissing that.

"How is he?"

Luca sighed. "Last I heard, there's been no change. He's still in a coma in intensive care."

Abby felt her face crumple and tried not to cry. She felt Luca's hand touch hers gently. "Abby, right now that's good news. He hasn't deteriorated any and that's the main thing at the moment."

"I want to see him."

"Abs, I don't know if that's a good idea..."

"I don't care, Luca. I want to see him."

He sighed again. "Ok, I'll clear it with the nurses."

He got up and left the room. Outside, she could hear him talking to the nurse, who obviously wasn't very happy about letting Abby get up. She caught snatches like "she'll open those wounds" and "can't you talk her out of it?" She snorted. No one was going to talk her out of seeing McGee again. Gibbs had already made her wait this long.

Luca came back into the room a few minutes later. "Gibbs wants to talk to you first, Abby." She started to protest and he put up a hand to stop her. "Then we'll take you to see McGee. I promise."

She subsided.

"So how long have you been dating McGee?"

"This time? Two months."  
>"This time? You mean you've dated him before?"<p>

"Well, yeah. Years ago now, before he joined Gibbs' team."

"What's he like?"

Abby looked at him suspiciously. "Why do you want to know?"

"Because I'd like to know more about the guy that's apparently got your number." Luca gave her his best innocent smile as he said it. She just stared at him.

"Oh come on Abs, I've never known you to go back to dating a guy after you've broken up. And two months has to practically be a record for you. So tell me about him."

She sighed. "He's sweet, and funny, and loyal. And smart- MIT smart. He's a bit of a geek. He loves computers and he's brilliant with them. Much better than I am. But don't tell him that. And he's stubborn, and overprotective and a little naive..." She could feel herself getting choked up again. "Luca, what happens if he dies?"

"He's not going to die, Abs." Gibbs spoke from the doorway. He walked over to her bed. "We won't let him."

"I can see him now?"

"Not so fast, Abs. There's a couple of things you should know first."

Luca got up and motioned for Gibbs to take his chair.

"He's heavily sedated. They had to take a piece of bone out of his skull, and they've put a tube down his throat to help him breathe. He... doesn't look good right now Abs. Are you sure you want to do this?"

She nodded. "Of course I am"

"Ok. Then let's go."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Ok, so the last few chapters have been set in various hospital rooms for the most part. This one is back to the case...**

**Thanks goes to Trina109... she worked a crazy amount of hours in the last two days and still found time to beta this for me. I know I've said it before, but you rock!**

"So tell me, Tony. Why are we doing this? Balboa's team has already been here."

Ziva was keeping a lookout while Tony picked the lock on Shapko's front door.

"Because, Ziva, this guy went after Gibbs' team. And when it comes to Gibbs' team, he doesn't trust anyone. Except us." He gave a faint 'aha' as the door came open. "I've still got it."

He waved for Ziva to precede him into the room.

"What, exactly, are we looking for?"

"Anything Balboa and his team missed."

They split up and began searching, clearing each room as they went. The apartment was small and sparsely furnished. Tony cleared the hallway, and then entered the lone bedroom.

"Hey Ziva."

She walked out of the bathroom and joined Tony. "Yes?"  
>"Does this room look small to you? I mean, smaller than it should?"<p>

She surveyed the dimensions of the untidy space.

"Yes... Something is not quite right."

Tony started tapping on each wall of the room, looking for a hollow panel. He drew a blank on 3 walls, and then turned his attention to the built-in wardrobe along the wall opposite the bed. "Unless he's got really deep wardrobe space, my money is on there."

He yanked the door open. Pushing the hanging clothes out of the way, he began tapping. The very first panel he tried thunked hollowly. Pressing gently around the edges of the panel, he soon found the hidden latch. The panel swung forward in his hands. Taking the flashlight Ziva held out to him, he shone its beam into the space he'd revealed.

The walls of the hidden compartment were covered in photographs. Photos of Ducky, of Palmer, of Gibbs. Of Tony, and Ziva. And many, many, photos of McGee and Abby.

He pulled out his cell phone and hit speed dial.

"Boss? We found something..."

...

The sheer volume of photos was almost overwhelming, Ziva thought. It disturbed her that someone- a fellow agent- had been following them so closely. Looking at them, she could just about pinpoint when Shapko had started to concentrate his efforts on Abby and McGee. It appeared as if he had done so shortly after he'd realised they were a couple. After that, the photos started to make her feel...uncomfortable. He'd caught them in so many private moments, she felt like a voyeur just looking at them. And she knew that Abby and McGee would feel almost violated if they saw them. McGee especially was a very private person. So that the pictures didn't become a focal point for the sort of juvenile humour she knew the squad room was capable of, she was reviewing them on her computer, and not on the plasma. She could do that much to ensure Abby and McGee's privacy.

Tony was on the phone checking the BOLO on Agent Shapko when Gibbs returned from the hospital.

"Whatdya got, Ziva?"

"From the date stamps on the photographs we found at Shapko's apartment, it looks like he has been following us almost as long as he has been here, Gibbs. And it is obvious that he knew about Abby and McGee's relationship."

Gibbs gave her a long look, and then walked around to her side of the desk to look at the pictures on her screen. Inwardly she smiled. He was as reluctant as her to show the photos publicly.

"Agent Gibbs!"

The words, delivered in terse accents, came from partway up the stairs to the mezzanine. They looked up to see Director Vance watching them, his face set in uncompromising lines. He walked down the rest of the stairs towards them.

"You disobeyed a direct order, Agent Gibbs. You and your team were confined to Headquarters." His face softened. "How are they?"

"Ducky and Tony just have a few bruises. Abby's pretty sore, she'll be in the hospital a few more days."

"And Agent McGee?"

Gibbs tilted his head a little. "Touch and go. He's still in a coma."

Behind them, they heard Tony slam down his desk phone.

"Boss, got a hit on the BOLO. Metro PD think they've found Shapko."

Gibbs wheeled towards his desk, reaching for his badge and weapon.

"Where?"

"In an alley in Anacostia. Height and weight's right, but they haven't got a positive ID."

Gibbs cursed.

"Ziva, get Dr Hampton. See if Ducky is downstairs. Tony, gas the truck."

...

The alley was dank and strewn with rubbish.

The spreadeagled body of what they assumed was Shapko lay in the middle of the narrow space. While they'd wait for Ducky to give the official time of death, Tony could tell from the condition of the corpse that it hadn't been there long –despite the missing flesh of its face. He understood why Metro hadn't gotten a positive ID.

He couldn't bring himself to feel any sympathy for the fallen agent. Shapko had been a traitor. It was because of his actions that Tony had ended up in that cell. It was because of him that Abby was in the hospital. And it was because of him that McGee... He refused to let his mind complete that thought.

He waited for Ducky to finish checking the core temperature before kneeling to check the fingerprints. He wasn't as practised using the device as McGee was, and it took him a couple of tries to get the finger properly centred on the scanner.

"How long, Duck?"

"The body is completely cold, but the epidermis hasn't yet begun to break down. I'd say he hasn't been out here more than 24 to 36 hours."

"Cause of death?"

"Hard to say yet, Jethro. I'll know more when I get him back. However, these bite marks here, and here, tell us that it was too tempting a morsel for the local alley cat population." He and Dr Hampton began the process of shifting the body onto the gurney; they'd left Palmer back at Headquarters where he was still processing evidence.

The portable fingerprint scanner beeped. Tony looked at the small screen. Positive match; Agent Alexander Shapko.

"Is it him?"

Gibbs was standing beside him. Tony nodded. Gibbs was silent for a long moment, drinking from his ever present coffee cup.

"Good."


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Sorry about the break guys, it's been a bit crazy here between work and a teething daughter. Hope you enjoy this. **

**Thanks to Trina109 for her lightning fast beta reading :)**

After realising that a wheelchair would put too much pressure on Abby's healing wounds, Gibbs and Luca supported Abby as she made her way slowly down the corridors to the intensive care unit. After carefully scrubbing her hands- the staff took infection control seriously here, knowing that any infection could be fatal to the weakened people in their care- they helped her to McGee's room. She paused at the door, steeling herself. They waited understandingly, then Gibbs motioned for Luca to go ahead with Abby. His phone vibrated as he did so. He stepped away from the door and let the siblings enter the room as he answered the call.

Tears streamed down Abby's face as she took in the sight of McGee, motionless and covered in bandages. Shuddering, she turned to Luca, leaning against him for support.

"He was trying to escape..." Gingerly she settled into the chair next to McGee's bed and gently took his hand, lightly tracing over the swollen and discoloured thumb. "I watched him do this to himself."

"Why?" Luca sounded taken aback.

"It's one of the few ways you can get yourself out of handcuffs" she said softly. "And his arm... I don't know if it was broken before he did this, but if it was... He must've been in so much pain."

The door opened and Gibbs entered.

"Gotta go, Abs. Tony and Ziva have something. You need help getting back?"

She shook her head determinedly. "I'm not leaving."

He looked at her for a moment. "Call me if anything changes." He kissed her on the cheek and left, leaving Abby and Luca in silence.

...

"Whaddya got for me, Duck?"

Ducky turned from his crouched position near the feet of the cadaver on the table.

"Ah, Jethro. You've arrived just in time."

"Got a cause of death, Duck?"

"Yes, I believe so. Note the blue colour around the lips and under the fingernails. Symptoms of a massive overdose of an opiate. Heroin, morphine, oxycodone... I've sent blood samples up to Mr Palmer; he should be able to tell us which one was our culprit."

"Self inflicted?"

"Mmm, hard to tell. See the yellowing of the whites of the eyes? Symptomatic of decreased liver function. We've also found severe scarring of the blood vessels in both arms. When you came in, Jordan and I were just discussing these wounds on our departed agent's feet."

Gibbs moved closer to the table and had a look.

"Track marks?"

"Yes, and badly infected ones at that. It's a common problem amongst drug addicts, I believe. They start injecting themselves between the toes when the veins in their arms become too scarred to use."

"Been doing it a long time" Gibbs observed.

"Most certainly."

"Thanks, Duck. You should go home."

"No need, Jethro. Jordan here will be performing the autopsy."

"Ducky."

"I am perfectly fine, Jethro."

"If you were fine, Ducky, Jordan wouldn't be doing the autopsy."

Gibbs saw the look in his old friend's eyes and knew he'd made his point. The elderly medical examiner quickly changed the subject.

"How is Timothy?"

"No change. Abby's with him now."

"If anything does change..."  
>"I'll let you know."<p>

Gibbs left Autopsy, wishing that he had better news for everyone that kept asking him about McGee's condition. Still, he supposed 'no change' was better than the alternative. And much better than it would've been if they'd been even one minute later getting him out of that cell. The elevator stopped and he strode into the bullpen to see Tony and Ziva reviewing Shapko's personnel file on the plasma.

"What we know about Shapko?"

Tony spoke up. "Shapko, Alexander Ivan, American born but Russian descent. His family emigrated here after the First World War, settled in Roanoke, Virginia and opened a furniture store. Did a semester of psychology at Virginia Tech, before dropping out and applying to NCIS. Only just scraped through FLETC."

Ziva reached over and took the clicker from Tony, picking up the narrative. "He was posted to Camp Panzer Kaserne in southern Germany, where he was regarded as a capable investigator. His records indicate that he was written up several times for erratic behaviour."

"Yeah, a drug addiction will do that to you."  
>"He was using, Boss?" Tony looked surprised.<p>

"Cause of death was a massive drug overdose."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean-"

"He also has track marks between his toes, DiNozzo."

"Right Boss."

Gibbs gestured to Ziva to continue

"He requested the transfer back to DC for personal reasons."

"Family?"

"None living."

"How'd he get mixed up with the Novikovs?"

"Ahh...um..."

"Ziva. Find out how Shapko got involved with Novikova. Tony. Shapko's bank records."

"Ahh... I might need a little help with that, Boss. It's usually McGee's thing, and-"

"Get that Cybercrimes kid, Cooper, up here."

He sat down at his desk. Almost as soon as he did, his phone rang."

"Yeah. Gibbs."

He listened to Abby's high-speed rambling, his alarm growing with every garbled sentence. When she paused for breath, he interjected.

"On my way, Abs." He stood, grabbing his things out of the desk drawer.

"Tony, Ziva, with me." Without checking to make sure they were following, he headed for the elevator at a near trot.

"Where are we going, Boss?"

"Bethesda. McGee's had a seizure."


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Did you like the cliffhanger?**

When he entered the waiting room outside the ICU, Gibbs made straight for the knot of people off to one side of the room. Abby was there with McGee's family, looking pale and strained. She was shifting from foot to foot, as if she wanted to rush towards them but the discomfort from her wounds was preventing her. He hugged her gently, mindful of her injuries.

"What happened?" His question was directed to the entire group, but it was Abby that answered.

"They were reducing the sedatives- they wanted to see if he'd wake up by himself, Gibbs. He just-just started trembling and-" her voice broke and she buried her head in his shoulder.

"It's ok, Abs."

Over her head, he asked the McGees "Where is he now?"

Brett answered. "They've taken him for more tests. Right now, they're not sure whether he was seizing before they started bringing him out of it, or not." He ran a hand through his hair. Gibbs could see that his eyes were bloodshot. Next to him, Maureen looked haggard. "I just wish they'd tell us what was happening." He moved over to the chairs and collapsed into one as if there was no more strength left in his body. After a minute, he looked up at Gibbs.

"The bastards that did this to my son. Have you caught them?"

Gibbs nodded, grateful that he could at least give this solace to the man in front of him. "One's in custody. The other is down in Autopsy."

The grin on Brett McGee's face was twisted and bitter.

"Good."

...

As it always did in hospitals, time felt like it was standing still. It seemed like an age had passed before a surgeon in green scrubs entered the room. He went straight to where the McGees were sitting.

"Brett McGee? I'm Dr Simonsen. I have good news and bad news. The good news is that your son doesn't appear to have had any seizures that were masked by the sedation he was under. That's good news. However. He has had more seizures since. Now, we've been able to control them with a medication called Dilantan, but that doesn't fix the cause of the seizures."  
>"What's causing them?" Maureen asked.<p>

"We've taken a CT scan of your son's brain, and it appears that his brain is swelling where we removed the haematoma. The swelling is causing his brain to press against the skull, and that pressure is what's causing the seizures."

"But you can stop them? With the Dilantan?" Maureen stumbled over the unfamiliar word.

"We can, for now. But the medication is a temporary solution. We need to relieve the pressure by taking another piece of bone out of his skull, a larger piece this time. I need your consent to perform the procedure."

"What happens if you don't? Take the piece out of his skull, I mean." Sarah asked.

"If we don't relieve the pressure, and soon, then at best, he'll be left with significant brain damage. More likely, he would die."

His face pale, Brett held out his hand for the clipboard the doctor held. He signed the papers attached and handed it back.

"How long will it take?" Maureen asked.

Dr. Simonsen leafed through the forms on the clipboard. "A few hours. We'll let you know as soon as we're done."


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: Yay, another chapter! This one took a bit longer sorry guys. But it's getting there!**

**Thanks goes to Trina109 for beta-ing, as always :)**

Gibbs rubbed his tired eyes and looked around the dingy hospital waiting room. Abby had been politely but firmly removed from the waiting room earlier to be checked over- she was still a patient, after all- but had found her way back even more quickly than Gibbs had anticipated. She was asleep now, her head on Luca's shoulder. The wait had taken its toll on everyone. Maureen McGee, especially, was looking more pale and worn with each passing hour. He got up and took a seat beside her, touching her lightly on the shoulder as he did so.

"How're you holding up?" he asked quietly.

She gave him a wan smile, which quickly wavered and disappeared.

"It's the waiting that's the hardest, Agent Gibbs. The waiting and the not knowing."

"Your son is a lot tougher than most people realise. He'll pull through this."

This time her smile was a little brighter. Obviously reassured, she excused herself to check on Sarah. Gibbs tilted his head back against the wall and closed his eyes. If only someone could reassure him that easily.

...

The sound of the waiting room door opening woke Abby. She sat up gingerly, looking around to see who had entered. As she hoped, it was Dr Simonsen. She poked Luca in the ribs, waking him, then gently shook Sarah's shoulder. Sarah looked around blearily, then sat up straight when she saw the doctor.

"He's in recovery."

At the doctor's words, Abby released the breath she didn't realise she was holding.

"The operation went well, no complications. However, his condition is still very grave. If the brain continues to swell-"

"Then he still might die?" Abby almost didn't recognise her own voice.

The doctor looked at her sympathetically. "It's a possibility, yes. As soon as he's out of recovery, he'll be taken back to ICU. At the moment, he's heavily sedated and the seizures have stopped. Hopefully the swelling will ease and we'll be able to lighten the sedation he's under."

"If the swelling doesn't go down?"

This time the question came from Maureen McGee.

"If it doesn't ease, then we can try to control it with medication. I'd be reluctant to operate again in the next little while. Apart from his physical condition at the moment, there is only so much skull we can remove safely."

Abby saw Maureen go white and moved forward, putting an arm over her shoulders. She didn't know this woman well- they'd only just met- but she was part of Tim's family. Right now they needed all the support they could get.

...

Gibbs stifled a weary sigh as he entered the bullpen. It had been a long night. He'd tried to send Tony and Ziva home but they'd refused, so he'd sent them to talk to the agents that had worked with Shapko, to see if any of them had noticed anything unusual in the short time he'd been in DC.

He didn't like leaving the hospital while McGee's condition was so poor, but McGee wasn't alone. Abby was there with him still, as well as his parents and sister. The best thing they could do for McGee at the moment was make sure that Novikova's group was put out of action.

Across the bullpen, Cooper had fallen asleep at the desk next to McGee's. Gibbs went down the hall to the break room and collected a Caf- Pow!, depositing it on the desk next to Cooper's head and startling him awake.

"Cooper. Whaddya got?"

"Sir! Agent Gibbs! I must've fallen asleep, I'm so sorry-"

Gibbs cut him off. "What did you find, Cooper?"

Copper shook his head a little, as if he was trying to clear it. "Ahh, right. Shapko received regular payments from a bank account in Zurich roughly every 2 weeks. The amounts vary from $2000 all the way up to $15000. I traced the Zurich account back to an Anatoly Demidov."

"Novikova's henchman. That's good work, Cooper."

He went back to his desk, checking his emails. Palmer had identified the drugs in Shapko's system as a mixture of heroin and morphine. He'd noted that the heroin was only in trace amounts, but the morphine was well over the lethal dose. He picked his coffee up off the desk and headed towards the back elevator. Cooper stopped him.

"Sir? Um, Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs looked at the young Cybercrimes agent.

"Cooper, stop calling me sir."

"Sorry, Agent Gibbs. I just wanted to ask, how is Agent McGee? I tried to go to the hospital but they wouldn't let me in to see him."

Gibbs wasn't sure how to tell this young, eager agent that the agent he evidently idolised was only just clinging to life. The split second's hesitation spoke volumes to the younger man, however. His shoulders slumped.

"McGee's a fighter, Cooper."

"Thanks, Agent Gibbs."

...

He walked into Autopsy, looking for Dr Hampton.

"Jordan? You down here?"

She stepped out from behind the partially opened silver door.

"Gibbs. If you're looking for Dr Mallard, he's gone home."

"Yeah, I know. Just got a question for you, Doc."

"Fire away."

"If someone was using heroin, how likely are they to start using morphine instead?"

"That depends. Sometimes morphine can be easier to get."

"Supply wasn't an issue, Doc."

"Then I would say extremely unlikely. Are we talking about Shapko here?"

"Palmer says cause of death was a massive morphine overdose."

"Then it sounds like your agent Shapko was murdered."

...

Gibbs strode back into the bullpen. Tony looked up from his desk

"Boss. The other agents working with Shapko said he was a little strange-"

Gibbs cut him off. "Shapko was murdered."

"But how? Novikova is dead and we have Demidov in custody."

"There had to be someone else. Why else try to take out Abby and McGee at once? They'd had them for days and hadn't gotten anything. They knew we were coming. Cooper. Check the phone records for both Novikova and Demidov's burn phones. Trace all of their incoming calls for two days ago. I want to know who tipped them off."

Cooper nodded and started typing. A few moments later his head came up, his face filled with confusion.

"Gibbs, there's only one call to either phone. It came- it came from the base commander's office at Norfolk."


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Sorry for the posting delay, it's been a hectic few weeks! Between my daughter's first birthday, Mother's Day, my birthday and the usual round of work etc, real life has been crazy busy! This story is drawing close to its close, only a few more chapters to go. **

**Thanks to Trina109 for beta-ing, as always. **

Gibbs turned his head slightly to talk to the agents next to him. "Tony. Go and find Balboa; he needs to hear this."

"On it, Boss."

He turned back to Cooper. "You're sure about this?"

Cooper bobbed his head nervously. "Yes, sir. I mean, Agent Gibbs. The call came from a cell phone that was registered to the commander's office. It was for the use of his aide, Ensign Peter Noscov."

"It explains a lot, Gibbs" Ziva added.

"Yeah. Like how they got onto a naval base in the first place. You got an address for Noscov, Cooper?"

"Ahh... yep, got it. He lives in housing on base. Here's the house number." Cooper handed a scribbled note to Gibbs.

Tony arrived, followed by Balboa, who had a questioning look on his face.

"Ready for a trip to Norfolk, Agent Balboa?"

...

Gibbs quickly filled Agent Balboa and his team in on what Cooper had discovered, then despatched Tony and Ziva to get the car. Grabbing his own gear, he headed for the elevators, only to be stopped by a voice behind him.

"Agent Gibbs!" Gibbs turned to find Director Vance standing at the entrance to the bullpen, looking annoyed. "I thought I'd assigned the Novikova case to Balboa's team."

"You did; we're investigating the murder of Agent Shapko."

Vance made a faint disbelieving noise "So why are you heading to Norfolk?"

"Just following a lead, Leon."

"This lead wouldn't happen to link the two cases, would it Agent Gibbs?"

Gibbs refrained from mentioning at that the two cases were already linked.

"I'll let you know."

...

The 195 mile drive to Norfolk seemed interminable.

The time of day meant that the roads were clogged with peak hour traffic, turning what was usually a 3 hour drive into closer to a 5 hour drive. With each new traffic jam, Gibbs' frustration levels had increased. By the time they reached the naval station and passed through security, he was close to snapping point.

Thankfully, Balboa and his team had passed through security right ahead of them. Gibbs pulled the car up with a jerk and got out, grabbing his vest and windbreaker from Tony as he stalked towards Balboa.

"Gibbs, you know you don't need to be here." Balboa pointed out. "We've got this guy covered."

"Just here to help."

Balboa gave him a cynical look. "Yeah. Right." He shrugged into his own vest and windbreaker. "I heard about McGee. How's he doing?"

"Still in a coma."

Balboa flinched. "Too bad. McGee's a good guy. Are you sure you want to be here for this? I mean, wouldn't you rather be-"

Gibbs cut him off. "This guy is the reason McGee and Abby almost died. I want the son of a bitch."

"Ok. Let's go."

The augmented team spread out, surrounding the small house. On Balboa's signal they rushed in, quickly securing the place. One by one the agents called in 'clear'.

Tony glanced at Ziva as they made their way through the building. "Reckon he flew the coop?" She shook her head 'no', then advanced around the last corner.

Noscov was sprawled on the bathroom floor, glassy eyed and pale. The syringe still protruding from the crook of his elbow told its own story.

Exasperated, Tony holstered his weapon.

"We've got him, Boss."

...

Tony and Ziva stood together in the darkened Observation room, watching Noscov through the one way glass. As they watched, they could see him occasionally twitch and fidget. Even from this distance, it was obvious that he was sweating.

"I cannot believe that Gibbs would wait this long to interrogate Noscov" Ziva commented. "I have never known him to leave a suspect to roast for so long before."

"Stew, Ziva. Not roast. And besides, Gibbs knows what he's doing. Noscov here is a junkie. See all that twitching he's doing? He's starting to go into withdrawal. If he's even half as addicted as our friend Shapko was, soon he's going to be desperate to get out of here so he can get his next fix."

"And that is another thing! Why is Gibbs conducting the interrogation? Balboa has lead." The Director had decided that the moment they'd brought Noscov in.

Tony turned his head to look at his partner.

"Because Gibbs is the master. You saw the tape of Demidov's interrogation."

Gibbs had questioned Demidov while Tony and Ziva were processing the evidence from Shapko's apartment. Even Ziva, Mossad- trained as she was, had shuddered as Gibbs had brought the full intimidating force of his personality and skill to bear against the Russian.

"Demidov clearly gave the order for Shapko to be disposed of, and we know Noscov tipped Novikova and Demidov off" she pointed out now. "What more information can we get from this... filth?" Her lip curled as she spoke.

"Demidov may have ordered the hit on Shapko, but we still need to find out who carried it out."

On the other side of the glass, the door opened and Gibbs entered. He strode to the table and dropped a file on it, anger evident in his every move. Settling himself at the table, he eyed the wretched man across from him.

"What'd you want, man?"

Noscov's voice was high-pitched and quavery.

Gibbs kept his impassive face and cold stare in place.

"Svetlana Novikova."

"What about her?" The question was strained and nervous.

"You tipped her off."

Noscov licked his lips nervously. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Gibbs slapped his hand down on the tabletop and roared "Don't lie!" Ripping open the file folder, he took out a photograph and threw it down in front of Noscov

"Special Agent Timothy McGee!"

Noscov picked up the photo and stared at it, his already pale face going paler.

"Is he- is he dead?"

"Almost." He pulled another photo from the folder and threw it in front of Noscov. "Abby Scuito!" He got up front his chair and rounded the table, leaning partway over Noscov. "You let Novikov and Demidov onto the base; when we came looking for them, you tipped them off, didn't you?" When Noscov didn't reply, he roared again "Didn't you?!"

Noscov jumped and cringed, nodding.

"I didn't want to. He- they-they made me do it."

"And Agent Shapko?"

He nodded again, tears running down his face. "They threatened to cut me off. You- you don't know what it's like. I need the stuff."

Gibbs looked down at the jittery, blubbering wreck in front of him and felt nothing but disgust.

"Good luck getting it where you're going."

He swept the file and the photos up off the table and walked out, slamming the door shut behind him.


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N:Yay for the end of writer's block... Sorry, creative stifling...**

They'd developed a routine.

Brett and Maureen would sit with Tim for a few hours and then they would trade off with Abby and Sarah. None of them mentioned it, but Abby knew they shared the same thought; none of them wanted him to be alone if- when- he woke up.

Once the doctors were satisfied that Abby's wounds were healing with no sign of infection, she was discharged with a prescription for pain meds and a warning not to over exert herself. She prevailed on Luca to drive her to the hospital every morning; he practically dragged her out to get some sleep every night.

On the morning of the third day following the surgery, Brett entered Tim's room with good news.

"Tim's doctors" -there was a team of them now, from an intensive care specialist to a neurosurgeon- "say that his intracranial pressure has dropped. They're going to reduce his sedation."

Abby, Sarah and Maureen looked at him with hope in their eyes. "So he's going to wake up?" Sarah asked.

"Hopefully."

"What about brain damage?" Abby asked the question no one wanted to ask.

Brett sighed. "I asked the same question. They said they can't see any on the latest CT scans, but it's not very good at that. They need to do an MRI, but they can't do that yet. They have to wait until he wakes up."

Maureen looked a little confused. "Why?"

"The magnets... he can't have any metal in there with him. They have to be able to take his IVs out first" Abby explained softly, glancing at the numerous lines and machines that McGee was attached to.

"When do they start?" Sarah wanted to know.

"As soon as that bag runs out." Brett pointed to the IV hanging almost directly above Abby's head.

"And then?"

"And then we wait."

...

Gibbs was in the waiting room when Abby walked in. He gave her a quick hug.

"How's he doing?"

She smiled. It felt odd, like it had been days since she did something as positive as smile.

"He's doing better. They're taking him off the sedation."

"That's good news."

"Yeah, it is." She forced herself to push aside the negative thoughts. "What happened with Noscov?"

"He confessed. Case is closed."

She nodded, unaware that Gibbs was studying her.

"Abs? You ok?"

That was all it took. Her hands started to shake and suddenly she was blinking back tears.

"Oh Gibbs, what if he doesn't wake up?"

"He will, Abs. He will." He held her for a few minutes, rubbing her back while she sobbed into his shoulder. She felt him lift a hand, waving someone into the room.

"Jethro?" It was Ducky's voice. "Not- not bad news?"

Abby pulled away, trying to smile. "No, Ducky. They're taking him off the sedatives."

"Wonderful, Abigail!"

"Ducky, is there- is there a chance he might not wake up?"

"What did the doctors say?"

She tried to remember. Her head felt fuzzy from a combination of worry, painkillers and lack of sleep, making it hard to think. "They said they couldn't see any damage on the latest CT scans but they need to do an MRI to be sure."

"Well, significant damage would show up on a CT scan, Abigail. He will wake up."

She managed a more genuine smile this time, feeling reassured by their certainty.

...

She refused to leave with Luca, wanting to be close by in case anything changed. So she was still in the waiting room, attempting to nap in one of the uncomfortable chairs when Brett McGee came down the hallway with a massive grin on his face.

"He's breathing on his own."

She sat bolt upright. "What?"

"He's breathing on his own. He scared us, set the alarms off. But he's breathing!"

She jumped up and hugged him. Gibbs was beside her with Ducky, shaking Brett's hand. After their initial celebration, Brett calmed them down, pointing out that Tim wasn't ready to come off the ventilator yet.  
>"But he's starting to move his hands a little. It looks like he's coming out of it. The doctors are saying it could take hours yet before he opens his eyes, but it's a start."<p>

Gibbs and Ducky took over sitting with McGee, watching every small movement he made with hope.

...

The darkness was receding.

In its place was a growing sense of dread, and of something unfinished. There was something he had to do, something urgent, but what?

The dread built into incipient panic.

Something was choking him. He could feel it, clinging to his mouth and face. His breath hitched a little as he struggled to figure out what was going on.

Memory came flooding back. Abby, shackled to a chair, her alabaster skin torn and bleeding. Abby, her green eyes wide with a horror, a chain around her neck, strangling her.

Frantically he clawed at the thing choking him. He had to get away, had to get to her, had to save her... But it was already too late. Wasn't it?

Abby was dead.

Grief seized him. Abby was dead.

Suddenly someone was there, holding him down. In his panic he only dimly recognised the voice telling him to calm down, to take it easy.

Abby was dead.

...

Gibbs started as his youngest agent moved suddenly, taking him by surprise. He'd expected Tim's awakening to be a gradual thing, many hours in the future, not this sudden struggle. He saw Tim reach up and try to rip the oxygen tube away from his face, saw his eyes snap open. The pain in those eyes made his stomach clench. McGee was still on heavy duty painkillers; Gibbs knew the pain he was witnessing was grief.

He stood and grabbed McGee by the shoulders, trying to tell him to take it easy, that Abby was okay. But McGee clearly wasn't hearing him. Turning his head, he spotted Sarah McGee in the doorway.

"Get Abby in here!"


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Second to last chapter, guys! To give you fair warning, please don't expect this story to finish with all the loose ends tied up in a happy ending, because it just won't happen. There will be a sequel in the not too distant future. F. **

**Thanks goes to Trina109, as always. **

Abby looked up in surprise as Sarah burst into the crowded waiting room. Tim's little sister was usually so self contained. She rushed over to where Abby was sitting and grabbed her arm, dragging the older woman to her feet.

"Gibbs needs you. Tim's awake but there's something wrong, I don't know what, he just said to get you." She was pulling Abby towards the door as she spoke. Abby let herself get dragged out the door and down the hallway towards McGee's room. She looked back over her shoulder at Tim's parents, who were on their feet looking apprehensive. "What about your parents? If Tim's awake, shouldn't we-"

"Gibbs said just to get you!"

They were at the doorway to McGee's room. From inside, Abby could hear Gibbs trying to calm Tim down. She pushed open the door and hurried into the room.

A pitiful sight met her eyes. McGee was huddled in the bed, frantically trying to undo the tape holding his oxygen tube in place. His eyes were open but unseeing. Gibbs was holding his shoulders, repeating "Abby is not dead" to a clearly uncomprehending Tim. At the sound of her entrance, he turned his head.

"Abs! Need you over here. McGee's not going to calm down unless he sees you."

She rushed to the bedside, grabbing one of McGee's hands and stopping him from tearing at the tape across his face. She looked across at Gibbs and signed awkwardly with her free hand "He thinks I'm dead?" Her heart sank with Gibbs' nod. She knew how she'd felt these last few days, with Tim's life hanging in the balance, and she'd only just realised how much she loved him. She'd tried to force herself to imagine losing him and her mind had shied away from the thought. She looked down at McGee and gently stroked his face.

...

Someone grabbed his hand. For a fleeting, wonderful moment he thought he smelt the faint gunpowdery scent that Abby wore. He pushed it away, dismissing it as wishful thinking. When the same someone gently stroked his face, he unwillingly glanced towards them- and felt his heart skip a beat.

It was Abby.

He squeezed his eyes shut, expecting her to be gone when he opened them again but hoping against hope that she'd still be there. He opened them again slowly.

She was still there.

"Abby?" he tried to say. The thing in his throat stopped the word from coming.

"Shh... don't try to talk, Tim. There's a tube helping you breathe." She smiled shakily down at him. He was dimly aware of someone new coming to stand on the other side of his bed, but all his attention was on Abby.

He still couldn't believe she was there.

The someone on his other side was becoming insistent. Reluctantly he looked in their direction- he couldn't seem to raise or turn his head- and saw a doctor standing there.

"Now that you're back with us, Agent McGee, I want to take that tube out."

McGee managed a slight nod. The doctor peeled away the tape from across his face.

"Ok. Take a deep breath, then when I tell you to, cough as hard as you can." McGee nodded again and took the requested breath.

"Right. Now!"

He coughed, gagging on the tube as it slid out of his sore throat. The doctor reached across and looped a pair of nasal prongs around his ears, checking that they were sitting just so.

"These should be enough for now. If your oxygen levels drop or you feel any dizziness or shortness of breath, we'll put you on a mask. Keep the talking to a minimum" he admonished. "You've been down a long time."

He nodded, his attention elsewhere.

"Abby?" This time a sound came out, somewhere between a croak and a whisper. To his embarrassment, he realised that he was crying.

So was she. "I'm here, Timmy."

"I thought- I thought you were dead." He could see the line of bruising around her neck where the chain had bitten in. The marks were beginning to yellow and fade. How long had he been out for?

She shook her head. "Gibbs and Ziva got there just in time."

"Thank God for Gibbs and Ziva" he croaked. "Abs, if I ever lost you..."

She shushed him again. "I know, Tim." She leant over him and kissed him gently.

There was a discreet cough from the doorway. Abby straightened, and McGee could see his family clustered in the doorway.

"Can we come in?" his dad asked.

"I'll come back later" Abby told him.

"No. Stay." He grabbed her hand, stopping her from moving away. "Please?" He wasn't ready to let her out of his sight just yet.

"I'll stay as long as you want." She gave him another shaky smile. Somehow he didn't think she just meant now, by his bedside. And that was alright with him.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: This chapter has been a long time coming. Sorry for the ridiculously long delay, real life has been a bit full on lately!**

**This is the last chapter of this story, and there will be a sequel dealing a bit better with the aftermath. Hopefully I'll be able to start posting it soon.**

**Huge thanks go to Trina109, my beta and good friend. Without your encouragement, I doubt this would've gotten written.**

McGee's new state of consciousness didn't last long.

The medical team subjected him to a battery of tests-including the MRI they'd been wanting to do- checking his reflexes, his responses to pain, his memory and his cognitive abilities, as well as a host of blood and other medical tests that Abby couldn't remember. There were so many of them. And throughout it all, McGee had gritted his teeth and borne it, squeezing her hand at intervals as if to make sure she was still there.

It seemed to Abby that he'd barely woken up before he was drifting off to sleep again. She tried not to think that it was a symptom of any brain injury he may have received, forcing herself to think instead of what he'd been through in the last few days. But sitting there, alone, next to his bed in the darkened ICU, made it too easy to believe the worst.

She was relieved when Ducky arrived and was able to talk her out of the worst of her gloom. The elderly Scotsman just made too much sense to ignore. And she was in the room when McGee's team of doctors met with Ducky, talking in low voiced whispers and throwing around medical terms that she didn't really understand.

Ducky's translation dispelled the last of her gloom.

"Most of Timothy's test results have come back remarkably normal for someone who has been in a coma for several days. In the morning, they will be able to move him to a normal ward."

She jumped up and hugged the older man, unable to express her jubilation any other way. When she'd calmed down a little, questions started to form in her mind. The foremost of which was "What about the MRI?"

Ducky sighed. "They either weren't able to or weren't willing to tell me, Abigail. Telling me any information at all is a matter of professional courtesy, as I am on record as Timothy's personal physician."

She had to be satisfied with that.

...

Gibbs closed his eyes in relief as the gist of Abby's excited phone call sunk in. Leaning back in his desk chair until his spine popped- he'd spent too much time at the office lately- he allowed himself a rather rare smile.

Straightening up, he saw that both Tony and Ziva's eyes were on him and knew they'd been trying to overhear his mostly one-sided conversation. Unwilling to keep them in suspense- McGee was family, after all- he grinned again.

"They're moving McGee to a regular room."

Tony stretched his arms back over his head in a 'victory' pose.

"When?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"That is good news." Ziva's characteristically quieter reaction was nevertheless heartfelt.

"Yeah." Gibbs made a shooing motion with his hands towards his team. "Go on, get out of here."

They didn't need telling twice, grabbing their belongings and heading for the elevator. As they left, Gibbs could hear them arguing over who got to visit McGee first. Shaking his head, he looked up at the catwalk. Seeing a gleam of light from upstairs, he made his way up the steps two at a time to deliver the good news.

...

The transfer was accomplished the next morning with, to McGee's mind, a great deal of fuss. He still felt completely exhausted; at first it was easier to just let the assorted doctors and nurses do whatever they were bent on doing without wondering why he was being subjected to the seemingly endless tests and questions.

But as his patience wore more and more thin, and his foggy mind became a little clearer, he realised that everyone's- including his family, his team mates, and even Abby- smiles seemed a little forced, that everyone was a little bit edgy. What was going on?

Finally, he was settled in a different room- he was amused briefly that it was a private room, wondering who had managed to get his insurance to spring for that- and everyone had made their excuses and left him to get some rest. Well, everyone except Abby. He still didn't want to let her out of his sight if he could help it. He was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that she was here, with him, and not lying in Ducky's cold storage. He shook his head, trying to dispel the awful memory of her unconscious- or dead, as he'd thought- and instantly regretting it as it set up a wave of pain through his heavily bandaged head.

Looking over at her now, he reached for her hand and flinched a little when she wouldn't look at him. He hadn't been imagining it. She wouldn't meet his eyes. He sighed.

"Abby, what is it? What is everyone avoiding telling me?"

Her head came up at that, her green eyes suddenly wary and he knew he was right. She was- everyone was- hiding something from him. But they'd thought wrong if they'd depended on Abby not to tell him. She was horrible at keeping secrets, especially from him. She shook her head a little and he knew she was going to try to avoid telling him the truth.

"Abby, if you don't tell me..."

"The doctors said not to, they said it should wait until you're a bit more recovered..."

"Why? What is it?" He couldn't help getting a bit panicky now. "Something's wrong, isn't it? Am I- am I dying?"

She shook her head again, taking a deep breath.

...

Brain damage.

He felt the knowledge sink in, feeling like a lead weight in his chest and stomach, pinning him to the bed.

Brain damage.

The man with his steel pipe had really done his worst, hadn't he?

From what Abby said, they didn't know for sure what the extent of the damage was- or what impairments he might have to expect, to live with.

He felt like crying. His intelligence, his skills, his *brain* was the only advantage he had. His whole life, he'd been-if not the smartest kid in the class- at least close to it. He'd fought for acceptance his whole life because of it. It wasn't easy being the geek, especially when your whole ambition was to work in a profession traditionally dominated by jocks. And now...

How much of that had he lost? Abby had said that the doctors thought the damage was limited to his occipital lobes. His anatomy knowledge was extremely rusty, but he thought he remembered that the occipital lobe had something to do with sight... right? He immediately tried to see if there was anything wrong with his sight, but couldn't notice any difference. Frustrated, he lay back, staring at the ceiling.

What would happen now?

Giving himself a mental shake, he forced his mind back to a more positive outlook. Until they knew how extensive the damage was, he had to hope for the best. If the effects were just a reduction in his sight, well, he could live with that. It wouldn't necessarily even affect his job- after all, there were many field agents with worse eyesight than his, including Gibbs.

If the effects were worse... well, he'd learn how to deal with them.

He had to.


End file.
